The Fringe, All about the Fringers!

[Marcus Caine]

The Fringe Planets of the Nu System
"Independent/Rebel Space"

Surrounding the innermost planets of the Nu System is The Fringe, a ring of planets that lack the impressive architecture and extensive alterations present in Alliance Space. Some are more developed than others. Cities and settlements range from comfortably large but modest and diverse to small satellite colonies set in dust.

Corwin
Corwin is a planet close to the Inner Planets and arguably the first planet in The Fringe to be colonized with success. It is a temperate place and a small planet, with a wide variety of habitable areas, and although most would call it modest, it is largely self-sufficient, partly due to its history with The Alliance, and maintained by a diplomatic government. For reference's sake, it should be noted that Corwin is most comparable to "Old Earth", and many governments in The Fringe look to Corwin's leadership for guidance.

Jackson
Separated from The Alliance in the last thirty years, Jackson is a planet with technology that enables people to live in a massive city in the center of the planet, despite its hazardous atmosphere and volcanic activity. All of civilization on Jackson exists within a massive complex maintained by incoming wealth from the planet's mechanical industry. Despite the government's rocky relationship with The Alliance after many years of occupation and argument, many Alliance battleships and other vessels are still sent to Jackson for repair and upgrades.

Hale
Hale is wet and cold almost without exception. The majority of the planet is covered in plains and forestland, but the resources are hardly plentiful. Hale's history has been difficult, littered with civil wars and conflict with The Alliance. The mines of Hale were once its most profitable attribute, but The Alliance claimed many of the minerals of the planet for construction on the planets of The Trinity. Still, the cities and towns of Hale are fairly well-developed, though they are also highly practical and lacking in any rich culture.

Some say that Hale is home to rebels and criminals-exiles, mostly- though the same could be said about many planets in The Fringe.

Shaa
Unlike Hale, Shaa is large and barely habitable due to its heat and large areas of desert. The people of Shaa are hardly diverse or accepting of outsiders, having remained as isolationist as a Fringe planet can be since the expansion into Nu space, but they could certainly be admired for their rich culture even though they tend to keep it to themselves. In addition to the Shaa people's reputation of being unfriendly, the odd pressure levels on the planet cause many to refrain from even considering moving to Shaa.

The Outside Colonies
The planets listed above aren't the only planets occupied in The Fringe. There are many colonies in The Fringe operating outside conventional governments and forming new subcultures. Some are lawless and isolated, fending for themselves. Some are merely extensions of well-developed settlements. Some exist on large planets with small habitable areas and others exist on satellite planets and moons. All exist, housing people living with the knowledge that at any time their colony might fail or be taken by The Alliance, though thankfully The Alliance seems to have no interest in the colonies that exist on the edges of The Fringe. There are options for those who wish to live in independence . . . for now.

[Marcus Caine]

Government

Because The Fringe is a place of independence and, in some cases, blatant rebellion, there is no central government (officially). The independent governments of each planet or each independent settlement often look to the government of Corwin for guidance (as it is the most powerful in The Fringe), but most places have localized governments with varying structures depending on their needs and the values of their respective people.

Values and Beliefs

Values in The Fringe tend to center around the family and the needs of smaller community units. People often value a strong work ethic, loyalty, and charisma in addition to the preservation of each unique culture. They generally care more about the integrity of a person's character than their ability to advance any one cause other than that of independence. Independent thinkers and innovators are highly valued. Pride is widespread- pride in the community, in the family, and in one's own natural, unique talents and role in society, regardless of what that may be.

While that's definitely true of the majority of Corwin, there are undoubtedly differences between the majority and the opinions of many colonies and sub-groups. After all, you can't have men preaching about individuality and independence for long before people decide it would be highly original and independent of them to preach something else . . .

Religion and spirituality throughout The Fringe is as varied- if not more varied- than any other aspect of culture. Many people are atheistic and maintain their own opinions of what is beyond their perception, but there are also Monotheists and people who have taken to establishing their own religious practices around what they believe to be true in regards to spirituality and divinity.

Gender and race issues are, perhaps, more openly present in The Fringe than in The Alliance, if only because there is so much variation in personal belief systems and far less diversity in some places. People who spend their entire lives in a small colony tend to develop prejudices based in ignorance, and the needs of some societies force men and women to return to primitive gender roles in some ways. Still, there are places in which prejudices are almost a non-issue within The Fringe.

Entertainment

Technology in The Fringe, as a whole, is less advanced than technology in the Inner Planets. Most of the advances are made by developers in the Inner Planets, after all. Most entertainment in The Fringe is, as a result, comprised of lower-tech versions of Alliance entertainment, and different genres of film, music, and literature tend to appeal to Fringers in comparison to Allies. In general, the Fringers tend to prefer entertainment dealing with the common man and overcoming oppression and adversity. They also tend to prefer rougher sports rather than sports involving a lot of fancy strategy and technology.

Sports and physical activities, in addition to 'traditional' music, tend to appeal more to Fringers than anything else.

Education

Education in The Fringe ranges from well-established schools that could rival the public institutions of The Alliance (and even some of the specialized private schools) to one-room schoolhouses in places where illiteracy is much too common. It is the larger, well-off Fringe planets that have the better schools, of course, while the tiny isolationist colonies tend to let their education systems be neglected. Many students who wish to reach their full potential intellectually tend to seek education passports to study in a school in the Inner Planets. Unfortunately, studying abroad can be very expensive, and their fellow Fringers may look down upon them for fraternizing with 'the enemy' because The Fringe is, supposedly, not good enough for them.

The Middle Class

The primary difference between the middle class of The Fringe and that of The Alliance is mainly due to the technology available, the quality of housing, and the overall limit on resources. A middle class Fringer likely lives in a fairly humble apartment or house. Children of middle class parents often share rooms. At times many middle class people must conserve their resources to accommodate shortages in their community. Still, they hold jobs comparable to those of the middle class people of The Alliance (low-middle management, teaching, and service positions). However, there seem to be more middle class, local/family farmers in The Fringe than there are in The Alliance, where farming is under strict control of the government and most farm workers are payed very little.

Transportation
Middle class Fringers rarely own their own transportation, though scooter-like transportation isn't entirely uncommon. Public transportation is fairly common in more developed places, such as Corwin or Jackson. People with access to a car (cars usually belong to businesses for product transport), which are seen as rather obsolete in Alliance space, are often considered to be very lucky. Generally, people walk from place to place.

Majority Opinion of the Alliance

The Alliance government is overbearing, pushy, sneaky, corrupt, and determined to own all of the Nu System, according to the majority opinion/belief. The citizens of the Inner Planets are believed to be arrogant and spoiled, often with almost no ability to think for themselves.

[Marcus Caine]

Many thanks to Jeff for coming up with this information!

Technology of the Fringe Planets

Fringe technology is pretty simple and straightforward. There are still several companies that make and manufacture technology of all different kinds. While this writeup is rather extensive, it certainly isn't complete. And yes, I am well aware that much of this is irrelevant to the colony of Initium, but you never know what might turn out to be important.

Computers and Other Research Equipment

Computers and research equipment is mainly manufactured by BluDisk, a large conglomerate that also does occasional contracts for The Alliance. Normally those contracts are for equipment designed specifically for The Alliance and not anything that Fringers use.

The research computers are rather advanced, especially compared to computers meant for household use. Most are small, about the size of a cellphone nowadays, and project a holographic screen, with full color, quality, and clarity. The screen can be operated either from the transmitting device, or by using the holograph itself as a touchscreen.

These are used only for scientific purposes and require a certain extent of training to be used properly. Anybody with a science degree would be able to use one with ease. They are used to chart and graph data, catalog research, find information through the IPnet (where there is access) or Fringenet, and all that other science-y stuff.

They don't need to be plugged in at all times, but they do need to be charged after roughly 6 hours of use (because apparently batteries can never be improved, no matter how far into the future you go).

Electronic Entertainment

Pretty much all technology that is used for entertainment is developed by Apple, which is, yes, still around in its own special form (though Steve Jobs isn't, just to be clear).

Electronic entertainment isn't all that much different. Instead of the TV, there is the iTube, which are pretty much TVs with touchscreens and home computer capabilities. They come in both solid screen and holographic screen models. The holographic ones are obviously much more expensive, being the newer model and all.

Apple's newest gadget is the iTick, which is a wristwatch that also serves as a music and movie player, and it comes with a single ear bud and a lens to view the movies. A special attachment (and upgrade) can be purchased for it to serve as a phone as well. The iTicks have IPnet and Fringenet access, but, again, it costs more.

While these are obviously not the only devices Apple has, they're the most popular and prominent.

Household Appliances

I won't go into too much detail about this because, frankly, appliances and tools are boring as hell, so this will be quick and hopefully painless.

The two most prominent manufacturers of household appliances are Redman Industries and TriWare. Redman specializes in hardware and power tools, while TriWare is more of a kitchen appliance company.

All tools are 'power tools', and don't need much thought or effort to work. Just putting in the proper settings and pressing the start button will pretty much get the job done.

Most appliances are automated and require little manual operation. The main thing to remember is that with washing machines or refrigerators is that they have to be filled with the proper substances (detergent, food, drinks, etc) for them to actually work. Otherwise they would go through the motions for no reason. Refrigerators do not stock themselves.